Sunday, November 25, 2012

Spot

When we
turn in dance, we must “spot.”That
means to pick a spot on the wall that you keep your eyes glued to while you are
turning.Then you whip your head around
immediately to find the spot again.In
this way you can turn many times without becoming dizzy and you can end up
where you want.

If you
focus your eyes all around the room as you turn, you will get dizzy and disoriented.

The
metaphor here is pretty simple -- what
we focus on is what we experience – but sometimes we focus too much on what we
think we desire, and when we end up there, we’re not really sure it’s where we
wanted to be after all.

Maybe
you are the kind of person who can focus on a goal without limiting your
expectations.I really admire that.

I have
not been able to expand my view of what I believe is possible for me to
achieve.Somehow I get stuck in the
painfully familiar place of feeling “not good enough” and think it might be
better not to focus on my goal at all.I tend to make them smaller as time goes on,
anyway, inadvertently limiting myself.

Every
now and then I think I should just let go and make an uncontrolled turn and see
where I end up.It’s not pretty.And I can end up on my ass.

However
I know that there are certain things that I can focus on while I’m “turning”
that are important to me and can be accomplished immediately.Although they are simple, it’s easy to
succumb to fear and forget my intention.I guess that’s why it’s called a “practice.”

I can
stay present in the moment and choose to do what brings me joy.I can decide to trust my process and be open
to every opportunity.I can remember to
be kind to myself and everyone else.I
can remember that love is all that matters.

So I
feel that if I can make these things my “spot,” then no matter how uncontrolled
my turn is, I’ll end up in a place that’s probably pretty good. And maybe even better than I could have imagined.

2 comments:

I love your dance analogy here, Susie! :-) When I get "dizzy" from not spotting, I focus on opening my heart even more, as well as on that serene "spot" inside of me that sees the bigger picture and knows that all is well. Continually bringing my focus back to the present is key.

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About Me

I have been teaching dance for over 25 years. I am now teaching at Dansue Dance Fitness, 509 Westport Ave, on the Norwalk/Westport line, CT. This blog is about how the process of dancing,choreographing and teaching can give us lessons about living our best life.